Sterling Bank gives out cash, prizes

Sterling Bank at the weekend gave out cash prize of N2 million to four of its savings customers in the second monthly draw of the bank’s ongoing Savers’ Promo held in Lagos.
The winners, who won N500,000 each, are Ofosu Yeboah (Alaba Main ETB Branch), Maurice Henry (Utako ETB Branch), Opakunle Muyibat Keinde (Iwo Road Branch) and Bienonwulu Loveth of (Asaba Branch).

Other 10 customers also won home theatres and refrigerators as consolation prizes. They include Olatunde Aina, Rufai Oladunni, Onwuka Agbai, Abba Simon, Dioni Asemo among others.

The winners emerged after electronic draws witnessed by Consumer Protection Council (CPC), National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), the media and members of staff of the bank. All the 14 winners emerged from 22,814 qualified entries pooled during the draws.

The bank’s Group Head, Liability Products and Bancassurance, John Akingbade, said that the promo was about rewarding customer loyalty and promoting financial inclusion in the economy. He said the bank is giving priority to the need to firm its financial inclusion strategy to enable it bank millions of the unbanked within the population. “We are aware of the need to enhance financial inclusion and bring the unbanked into the financial system,” he said.

Akingbade explained that to achieve this, the bank is promoting a classic savings account that allows prospective customers to open account with the bank with zero balance. He said the target of the bank is to ensure that more and more people within the unbanked population are captured into the financial system.

“We are reaching out to the informal segment of the population like barbers, mechanics, technicians, tailors, and other small retail outlets that have been excluded from banking services,” he said.
The promo is also expected to strengthen the bank’s deposit liabilities and position it to compete favourably in the industry.

This qualifies them to win N500, 000 and other gift items such as blackberry phones, home theaters, refrigerators, microwave ovens among others.He encouraged customers of the bank to save more as such will increase their chances of winning the prizes.

A representative of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mrs Ngozika Obidike, said the commission was happy with the progress made so far in the second draw. She confirmed that the promo was registered with the commission and apologised for the omission of th bank’s name in a recently published advert on registed promos in the country. “The promo is transparent. The bank’s promo was also registered with CPC. It was an outright omission on our part. The Council will apologise to the bank and will include the lender in the next publication,” she said.

Obidike said the bank has shown a lot of commitment in ensuring that its customers are rewarded an effort, she said, should be emulated by other banks.